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Pencil in a play this season

Five local theaters offer a variety of performances sure to entertain anyone looking for a night of comedy, music or drama.

Time to pull out your datebooks - and your checkbooks and/or plastic - to plan for the ever-more-crowded theater season.

The area's five theatrical venues - Show Palace Dinner Theatre, Angel Cabaret Theatre, the Palace Grand, Richey Suncoast Theatre and Stage West Community Playhouse - are offering a wide variety of comedies, dramas, musicals, comedians and singers.

Schedules for other venues and presenters and a list of major festivals in Hernando and Pasco counties will be published in September.

116128 U.S. 19, Hudson. Shows are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, and 1:30 p.m. some Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Doors open two hours before each show for cash bar and included buffet dinner. Dinner and show, $39.50; show only, $28.45; three shows, $99.75, or four shows, $133; age 12 and younger, $21.95 and $16.95, all plus tax and tip. Call 863-7949 in west Pasco; toll-free elsewhere 1-888-655-7469; fax 727 863-2585. Group rates available. Web site is www.showpalace.net

Today-Sept. 26: Fabulous 50's and 60's Revue, song and dances of the era

. 1-Nov. 14: Anything Goes, a musical comedy aboard a luxury liner; Cole Porter songs

Nov. 25-Dec. 25: Show Palace Christmas, a holiday extravaganza

Jan. 7-Feb. 20: Will Rogers Follies, a glitzy tribute to a down-home philosopher, starring Joe Lawrence

Feb. 25-April 3: Sugar Babies, bawdy burlesque's songs and skits

April 8-May 15: Red Hot & Cole, a Cole Porter biography with the songwriter's best tunes

May 20-June 26: Jerry's Girls, a revue of songs and shows by Jerry Herman

July 8-Aug. 14, 2005: No Sex, Please, We're British, the long-running English farce

Aug. 19-Sept. 25, 2005: Puttin' on the Ritz, the music of Irving Berlin

Sept. 30-Nov. 13, 2005: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, a paean to the infamous Chicken Ranch and the women who kept it going

Nov. 25-Dec. 25, 2005: John Leggio's Christmas Revue, a fast-paced holiday show

Jan. 6-Feb. 26, 2006: Cabaret, the dark musical about pre-World War II German decadence

March 3-April 16, 2005: Brigadoon, a visit to a beautiful village that comes alive just once every 100 years

April 21-May 28: Viva Vegas! a musical revue by Matthew McGee and Stan Collins

275 Della Court (off U.S. 19 a quarter mile north of the Pasco-Hernando border), Spring Hill. Shows individually priced, all plus tax and tip. Call (727) 863-7949 or toll-free 1-888-655-7469.

Nov. 25: The New Dawn Singers; doors open 11:30 a.m., dinner at noon, show at 1:30 p.m. Dinner and show, $38.50

Jan. 19, 20 and 21: Comedian Jackie Mason. Doors open 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Dinner and show, $39.95

Feb. 13: The Best of Burlesque. Doors open 11:30 a.m., dinner at noon; show at 1:30 p.m. Dinner and show, $35.50

Feb. 23, 24 and 25: Comedian Pat Cooper. Opening act, Susan Falcone. Doors open at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Dinner and show, $39.95

March 6: A Tribute to Patsy Cline, starring Carolyn Cline. Opening act, Woody Woodbury. Doors open 1 p.m., dinner at 1:30 p.m., show at 3 p.m. Dinner and show, $32.50

5201 U.S. 19, New Port Richey. Giggles Comedy Club on Friday nights, dinner at 7 p.m., show at 8:30 p.m. Dinner and show, $19.95, show only $10.

Season shows at 8 p.m. Saturdays, 6 p.m. Sundays and 3 p.m. some weekdays. Doors open two hours before each show for cash wine and beer bar and included buffet. Dinner and show, $35.50; show only, $21.95; ages 5-12, $19.95 and $16.95. Buy four tickets, get a fifth show for free. Call (727) 847-0019.

Saturday through Aug. 29: Marriage is Murder, an audience participation show

Sept. 11-Oct. 10: Steppin' Out! starring Krista Marie, a tribute to Irving Berlin

Oct. 11: Fiesta Italiana, a celebration of Columbus Day

Oct. 23-Nov. 21: A Moment With Liza, with Liza Minelli impersonator Suzanne Goulet (note show change)

Nov. 25: The Blonde Songbook, the music of Doris Day, Peggy Lee, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West and more, matinee and evening shows

Dec. 3-25: A Christmas Cabaret, starring Dee Etta Rowe

Dec. 31: New Year's Eve Extravaganza, starts at 7 p.m.

Jan. 15-Feb. 20: This Joint is Jumpin', a 1930s and '40s musical variety show

March 5-April 10: Lend Me a Tenor, a comedy

March 27: The Krista Marie Show

April 16-24: Murder on the High C's, an audience participation murder musical comedy mystery

April 30-June 5: Mamaleh!, starring Dee Etta Rowe

May 8: Rodi Alexander as Barbra Streisand, matinee and evening

8390 Forest Oaks Blvd., Spring Hill. Shows are 8 p.m. first Thursday and the following three Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Plays are $14; musicals are $16. Season tickets are $65. Box office is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and an hour before each show. Call (352) 683-5113.

Sept. 2-19: Don't Drink the Water, Woody Allen's Cold War comedy

Nov. 4-21: Kismet, an Arabian fantasy in music

Jan. 13-30: You Can't Take It With You, a quirky romance

March 3-20: Sweet Charity, a musical about an optimistic dime-a-dance girl

May 5-22: Crimes of the Heart, a bittersweet story of three Southern sisters

6237 Grand Blvd., New Port Richey. Shows are at 8 p.m. first Thursdays and the following three Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $15. Season tickets, $60; add the holiday show for another $10. Box office is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and an hour before each show. Call (727) 862-6777.

Sept. 9-26: Guys and Dolls, a musical based on Damon Runyon's story of gamblers, showgirls and saints

Oct. 21-Nov. 7: Wife Begins at 40, Ray Cooney's zany farce about marital discontent

Nov. 26-Dec. 5: Christmas Show (not part of the regular season)

Jan. 13-30: Love, Sex and the I.R.S., fun and games with everyone's favorite agency

Feb. 24-March 13: High Society, a sophisticated Cole Porter musical based on The Philadelphia Story

May 12-29: Honk!, a musical based on The Ugly Duckling